Internal Warfare
by Jenn Lynne
Summary: On Hold: Heero's become a scientist and an expiremental virus is revishing the public. Can Heero save them and survive hos own demons.
1. Marburg

CAUTION: Very Graphic  
  
All of the information here about the virus Marburg is true, and based closely on Richard Preston's book, The Hot Zone. "Hot" as it is used in this story does not refer to actual temperature, but rather, lethally infected.  
  
Internal Warfare  
  
Chapter One: Marburg  
  
"No Mary," President Richards of the ESUN said to his personal assistant on the phone from bed, "I'm not feeling well. Please reschedule my meeting." James Richards rested his head once again on his pillow as he listened to the click of the phone as he hung it up. He put two pills in his mouth and with a loud gulp, swallowed them. The throbbing pain behind his eyeballs didn't seem to be hindered by the drugs he had put into his body. He regretted rescheduling this meeting, these matters NEEDED to be discussed immediately, but he couldn't seem to get rid of this awful headache.  
  
Dr. Heero Yuy, scientist in charge of Biohazard Level 4 viruses at USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases), took a deep breath as he continued in his retelling of the recent events to the ESUN delegates. He wore a white lab coat and black slacks. His dark brown, unruly hair covered most of his face, but, if you looked carefully, you could see his prussian blue eyes sparkling like gems underneath. For a moment he made eye contact with Miss Relena Peacecraft, then looked back at the papers before him, and grasped the podium firmly. He wiped the sweat from his brow and began to speak once again. "As the day grew on, his headache grew worse. His eyeballs ached, and then his temples began to ache, the pain seeming to circle around inside his head. And then came the severe backache.  
  
On the third day after this headache started, he became nauseated, spiked a fever, and began to vomit. His vomiting grew intense and turned into dry heaves. At the same time, he became strangely passive. His face lost all appearance of life and set itself into an expressionless mask, with the eyeballs fixed, paralytic, and staring. His eyelids were slightly droopy, which gave him a peculiar appearance, as if his eyes were popping out of his head and half-closed at the same time. The eyeballs themselves seemed to be almost frozen in their sockets, and they turned bright red. The skin of his face turned yellowish, with brilliant starlike red speckles. He began to look like a zombie. He became sullen, resentful, angry, and his memory seemed to be blown away. He was not delirious. He could answer the housekeeper's questions, although he didn't seem to know exactly where he was.  
  
"After a few days, Mary Kingly, his assistant, started to worry. She went to his house and immediately advised him to go to see a doctor. She drove him to the small town's hospital. But being such a small place, with no real capabilities, the doctors there could come up with no explanation. They advised him to go to the large hospital in New Port City, in the Sank Kingdom for treatment. Before he left, thinking this could be some bacterial infection, they gave him injections of antibiotics, but the antibiotics had no effect on his illness. Although he was most definitely ill, his case didn't seem to be critical. They told Mary not to worry, just put him on a plane. He was still competent enough to tell a cab driver where to go. And with that Mary drove him to the airport. The small hospital tried to contact the major hospital in New Port City, but all the lines were in use, so they decided he would be fine, and left it at that.  
  
"His plane took off and headed for New Port City. It was a small airport, so the only plane traveling there was stopping just about everywhere in Europe first, it would seem. So the plane ride took about twenty-four hours all together. As the plane hit the sky, and the ground disappeared, Richards became airsick. He hunched over in his seat, and held the airsickness bag over his mouth. He coughed a deep cough and regurgitated something into the bag. The bag swelled up. He glanced around, his lips smeared with something slippery and red, mixed with black specks, as if he had been chewing coffee grounds. His eyes are now the color of rubies, and his face is an expressionless mass of bruises. The red spots, which a few days before had started out as starlike speckles, have expanded and merged into huge, spontaneous purple shadows. His whole head was turning black-and-blue. The muscles of his face drooped. The connective tissue in his face dissolving, and his face appears to  
hang from the underlying bone, as if the face has detached itself from the skull. He opened his mouth and gasped into the bag, and the vomiting went on endlessly. It did not stop, and he kept bringing up liquid, long after his stomach should have been empty. The airsickness bag fills up to the brim with a substance known as vomito negro, or the black vomit. The black vomit is not really black, it is a speckled liquid of two colors, black and red, a stew of tarry granules mixed with fresh arterial blood. It is a hemorrhage, and it smells like a slaughterhouse. The black vomit is loaded with virus. It is highly infective, lethally hot, a liquid that would scare the daylights out of a military biohazard specialist. The airsickness bag is brimming with black vomit, so Richards closed the bag and rolls up the top. The bag is bulging and softening, threatening to leak, and he hands it to a flight attendant." Heero pauses in his speech to breathe in deeply again, he has noticed  
that many members of the ESUN had begun to squirm in their seats with his retelling of what happened just three days before.  
  
He glanced in the direction of the Vice Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft once more, and the four men next to her, three former Gundam Pilots and one older brother. Quatre was on the other side of the room with the colony delegates. Heero continued, "When a hot virus multiplies in a host, it can saturate the body with virus particles, from the brain to skin. The military experts then say that the virus has undergone 'extreme amplification.' This is not something like the common cold. By the time an extreme amplification peaks out, an eyedropper of the victim's blood may contain a hundred million particle of virus. During this process, the body is partly transformed into virus particles. In other words, the host is possessed by a life form that is attempting to convert the host into itself. The transformation is not entirely successful, however, and the end result is a great deal of liquefying flesh mixed with virus, a kind of biological accident. Extreme amplification had  
occurred in Richards, and the sign of it is the black vomit.  
  
"At this point, he appears to be rigid, as if any movement would rupture something inside him. His blood is clotting up; his bloodstream is throwing clots, and the clots are lodging everywhere. His liver, kidneys, lungs, hands, feet, and head are becoming jammed with blood clots. In effect, he is having a stroke through the whole body. Clots are accumulating in his intestinal muscles, cutting off the blood supply to his intestines. The intestinal muscle is beginning to die, and the intestines are starting to go slack. He doesn't seem to be fully aware of pain any longer because the blood clots lodged in his brain are cutting off blood flow. His personality is being wiped away by brain damage. This is called depersonalization, in which the liveliness and details of character seem to vanish. He is becoming an automation. Tiny spots in his brain are liquefying. The higher functions of consciousness are winking out first, leaving the deeper parts of the brain stem (the primitive  
rat brain, and lizard brain) still alive and functioning. It could be said that the who of President Richards had already died while the what of President Richards continued to live.  
  
"The vomiting attack appears to have broken some blood vessels in his nose and he gets a nosebleed. The blood comes from both nostrils, a shining, clotless, arterial liquid that drips over his teeth and chin. This blood keeps running, because the clotting factors have been used up. A flight attendant gives him some paper towels, which he uses to stop up his nose, but the blood still won't coagulate, and the towels soak through. Finally, Richards slumped back in his seat and appeared to be dozing, though his red eyes move slightly around the cabin.  
  
"The plane finally landed in New Port City, Richards stirred himself. He is still able to walk. He stands up, dripping, and stumbles off the plane, his shirt a red mess. He carries no luggage. His only luggage is internal, and it is a load of amplified virus. Richards has been transformed into a human virus bomb. He gets a taxi and is brought to the hospital.  
  
"The sign on the door said CASUALTY DEPT. He moved to the reception window and indicated that he is very ill. He had great difficulty speaking.  
  
"The man is bleeding, and they will admit him in just a moment. He must wait until a doctor can be called, but the doctor will see him immediately, not to worry." Heero commented sarcastically, earning himself a glare from the department head of the New Port City General Hospital. He ignored the glaring man and continued. "So, he sits down in the waiting room. Suddenly, Richards goes into the last phase; the human virus bomb explodes. Military biohazard specialists have ways of describing this occurrence. They say that the victim has 'crashed and bled out.' Or more politely they say that the victim has 'gone down.'  
  
"Richards becomes dizzy and utterly weak, and his spine goes limp and nerveless and he loses all sense of balance. He is going into shock. He leans over, head on his knees, and brings up an incredible quantity of blood from his stomach and spills it onto the floor with a gasping groan. He loses consciousness and pitches forward onto the floor. The only sound is a choking in his throat as he continues to vomit blood and black matter while unconscious. Then comes a sound like a bed sheet being torn in half, which is the sound of his bowels opening and venting blood from the anus. The blood is mixed with intestinal lining. He has sloughed his gut. The linings of his intestines have come off and are being expelled along with huge amounts of blood. Richards has crashed and is bleeding out.  
  
"Pools of blood spread out around him, enlarging rapidly. Having destroyed its host, the hot agent is now coming out of every orifice, and is 'trying' to find a new host." Heero paused again and swallowed deeply. The room had become incredibly quiet and a pin could have been heard by all, had anyone dared to drop one. Heero continued with a brief explanation of what happened next, "The doctor that treated him, Angus Filmore, also caught the virus. Most likely he will die. President James Richards of the ESUN died at 2:30AM on July 8 of this year AC 203." As Heero paused again a slow and uneasy hand was raised. Heero looked and with a small start, discovered the hand belonged to former Gundam Pilot Quatre Winner, now colony diplomat. "Yes Mr. Winner?"  
  
Quatre took a moment to stand, "What virus is this?"  
  
"It is called Marburg for the city in Germany in which it first appeared. It is of the family filovirus and has two sisters, both strains of Ebola, Ebola Zaire and Ebola Sudan. Ebola Zaire, is the worst of the three and Marburg is called, 'the gentle sister'. If it is caught early, and the victim brought to the hospital and hooked up to life support machines, the chance of survival is still only 1 in 4. That means only one quarter of the people infected by Marburg survive." Heero kept his eyes trained on Quatre. Quatre nodded his head, signaling that his question had been answered.  
  
Another diplomat stood, not bothering to wait his turn, "How did he transmit the virus?" he yelled.  
  
"A joint investigation into that is going on as we speak, Preventers and some of my men as USAMRIID are working together to find that out. Most outbreaks in the past have been linked to primates who were infected. But, the President didn't seen to have any contact with primates." Heero replied as generally as possible.  
  
"Are you ruling out the possibility of this being a form of biological warfare?" Someone else yelled.  
  
"We aren't ruling anything out," Heero replied. That did it, the room erupted into argument and whispering. Heero stood there and watched with disgust.  
  
Relena Peacecraft stared down at him from her seat. Caught deep in thoughts of how much he had changed, and thoughts of another war. She wiped back a tear and stood. As the people around her noticed that the Princess of the Sank Kingdom had something to say, they quieted. In fact, in a matter of moments, the entire congress was absolutely silent again. "What happed just three short days ago was a tragedy. No one should jump to any conclusions. How paranoid you have all become. I expect, Dr. Yuy, that you and your co-workers are doing all they can?" Heero nodded, "Than that's more than enough to satisfy me," and with that, she sat back down.  
  
Vice President of the ESUN Charles Montgomery, moved in front of Heero at the podium. "If there are no more questions, then you are dismissed."  
  
In a slow flood of footsteps, the assembly cleared out. All except for Relena, her brother and the four former Gundam pilots. They all stood and walked to where Heero now stood.  
  
"Fowl play?" Trowa asked simply when they reached him, everyone else remained silent. Heero nodded.  
  
"I know who, just not why yet. Once I find out, it will all be over," he said quietly.  
  
((Author's note: I followed closely the chain of event in the book, The Hot Zone, because I had to have the timing right for an accurate description of Marburg. The Hot Zone, is a true story, therefor, the virus really exists and that is what happens to those who are infected. I'm reading the book for my Agri-Science class so if anyone has any questions just e-mail me at Littta1984@aol.com and they will be answered.)) 


	2. An Unbearable Burden

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, and I do not claim to. So Don't sue.  
  
Author's not: This chapter is not like chapter one, it does not contain that sort of graphic content. Although here is where the fluff starts. Heero is OOC, but I did that on purpose.  
  
Internal Warfare  
  
Chapter 2: An Unbearable Burden  
  
Relena stared at the red oak table she was sitting at, bored out of her mind. Around the table were Duo, who stared intently at a laptop screen, Trowa, who like her was bored and staring at the ceiling, and Quatre who was drinking tea, also staring off into oblivion. A light breeze blew through the open window, it made Relena's golden hair gently lift from the table, then fall back down. She looked up for a moment, and scanned the room, taking a moment to pause and look at each person sitting with her carefully, then back at the table. A commotion slowly arose from the hall. The sound of voices echoing off the walls as they approach. Nearer and nearer the voices came until they entered the room. Everyone in the room looked up, even Duo who had been staring at that screen for hours.  
  
As they entered the room each became silent. Wufie entered first and sat next to Trowa, across from Relena. Then, Heero entered, still in the same cloths from the conference yesterday. He looked pail, as though he had not slept in a few days. He sat between Relena and Quatre, on her right. Then entered Milliardo, Relena's older brother. He slowly sat himself on Relena's other side, drooping slightly in his seat, but continuing to glare at Heero through the corner of his eye. Everyone remained quiet for a moment until Pagan entered with tea for all. Each took a glass gladly.  
  
"It would be so much easier if you would just tell us who is behind this, Yuy." Milliardo broke the silence after a moment.  
  
Relena turned her head toward Heero to see if his expression would change, it didn't, but she saw his hand begin to tremble. Apparently he had noticed it too, he quickly put the tea down and moved his hand to his lap. Relena looked around, but it appeared as though she had been the only one to see it.  
  
"The burden of truth will be mine alone." Heero stated calmly. Relena reached her hand over and gently took his trembling hand in her own. He didn't pull away for a moment, just squeezed back, then abruptly pulled away as though he had realized his laps in judgement. Relena returned her hand to her own lap, defeated, but continued to look at him.  
  
"But maybe you can't handle something of this much importance alone." Duo said, a serious expression on his face. "This affects the whole world Heero, not just your little science department."  
  
Heero's head looked up and he gave Duo a dangerous looking glare. "I'm aware of that Maxwell, but what if you found where they're hiding this instead of me. Would you know how to transport it? Or destroy it? If you don't know what your doing this stuff is LETHAL. And it is my duty alone to take those kind of risks." He looked away. And under his breath, in a voice barely audible, but was heard by all, he said, "I will atone for this sin, alone."  
  
********  
  
Relena couldn't sleep; it was nearly two in the morning and still her eyes refused to shut. The soft glow from the moon cascaded over her as she stood, finally tired of lying down with out sleeping. She sighed aloud. "May God have mercy on us all, through these hard times." she prayed quietly. She decided a walk in the garden would do her good. The garden always helped to clear her head, and she knew that whenever she talked to God, things were worse off than she allowed others to believe. As she exited the house she closed her eyes as the cool breeze washed over her. As she stepped onto the grass in her bare feet, she reveled in the feeling of the dampness of it. He silky gown bellowed around her as she spun in the moonlight her head tilted upward. She stopped spinning and headed into the garden, finding her way to where the path was lined with lilacs. She loved lilacs and spent a lot of time here in silent contemplation. Many had inquired about her unique perfume that  
smelled so wonderful of lilac. As she looked along the path she saw someone in the small clearing by the pond. She could only see the faint outline of a man, as that was all that the moon would permit. She walked cautiously up the path, approaching the figure slowly. Upon reaching the edge of the clearing she could see him better. His back was to her, and he hadn't seemed to sense her presence, his hands though not clenched, trembled. She heard a choking sound. The sound one makes when sorrow overcomes you. He fell to his knees as his entire body began to tremble and he began to sob into the hand he managed to move to his face. Relena forgot her self in that moment and ran to the man and took one knee in front of him. As he brought his tear-streaked eyes to her, she wanted to make all the sorrow go away. It was Heero. The man with no feelings was sobbing freely and seemed to be unable to stop even now that she had made her presence to him known. In an instant he wrapped his  
arms around her neck and cried into her hair. She heard herself choke and begin to cry for him. She stroked his back in a comforting manner as she wrapped her arms around him. He responded by burying his face further into her hair and sobbing louder, comfortable in her care.  
  
After a while, his sobbing quieted and his grip slacked as his muscles relaxed and the trembling stopped. Relena felt her heart cry out when he pulled away from her, she wanted to stay in his arms longer, though only an instant later, she was already longing to be back in contact with him. He wiped the tears from his eyes harshly, and looked at her through clear vision. He reached his hand out, and in the lightest of touches, wiped her tears away as well. He did not break eye contact with her or move at all. After a moment he spoke. His voice ragged from his crying, "Thank you." he whispered, voice breaking slightly. At this she wanted to cry again but she held her face firm, nodding silently. He slowly stood and took her hand into his own. The sun had just begun to rise and a golden glow washed over both of them. He led her back to the mansion and to her room. He opened her door for her but did not enter. She walked slowly around him and into her room. Then she turned to  
face him.  
  
"Goodnight." he said in a whispered tone, but not as ragged as before. He brought his hand to her face for a moment and stroked her cheek. Slowly he moved closer to her, taking a step into her room. His lips touched hers so lightly at first that she had barely been able to feel it, but after a moment had gotten slightly deeper. She had never known him to be so gentle. Her hands found his back again and she pulled him closer. He didn't protest and leaned in, deepening the kiss still. Then slowly again, he began to pull away, her head screamed out for him but she stood still, letting him turn around and walk away without a word. She took a deep breath and smiled as a tear formed in her eyes. She turned around and shut the door. Soon she was asleep, having found a new peace to sustain her. It was now nearly five in the morning and even though she knew she would get no more than two hours of sleep, she would enjoy the sweet dreams she knew would come.  
  
*******  
  
The pounding on her door woke her up suddenly. Relena stretched as she sat up in bed and glanced at her clock. Whoever was at the door continued to slam their fist against it as he yelled her name. The clack read 11:08 ((AN: That's my lunchtime at school. lol)). She was shocked. "But oh, what a nice dream." She whispered softly as she got out of bed and opened the door. Her brother stood on the other side of it, completely red in the face with screaming. "Good morning Milliardo." She said with a yawn.  
  
"Well good morning to you too missy." He said, calming himself. "You missed four meetings already before someone told me you weren't at work." He walked over to her as she gazed out the window in silence. He looked at her questioningly for a moment, then placed his hand on her shoulder. This seemed to knock her out of her reverie.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Milliardo, what were you saying?" she asked her cheeks stained red for a moment with embarrassment.  
  
He sighed, "There was a very important reason why I had called your office looking for you Relena."  
  
"And what would that be?" her attention immediately and fully was on her brother.  
  
"I wanted to know if you knew where Heero was." He said quietly. "He wasn't here when I awoke this morning and I called his associates at USAMRIID, none of his staff has shown up for work today."  
  
She got a far off look in her eye as her chest began to ache. Something was wrong and she could feel it. "I have no idea." She said, making eye contact with him again. "Why were you looking for him?"  
  
Milliardo looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot, then he leaned in and whispered, "Because Colony representative Starlen has just crashed and bled out this morning."  
  
**********  
  
Heero awoke in a cold place. He was lying on the ground, which seemed to be made of cold stone. He did not open his eyes, or show any sign of being awake. He wasn't alone in this room. He could hear the soft breathing of three others. Two, he could tell, were awake. They were whispering as softly as they could. But still, their voices echoed off the walls. He could tell that one was male, and on was female. The third was either still unconscious, or chose not to talk. He opened one eye slightly. Looking through his eyelashes. The room was dark, though it had a light fixture hanging from the ceiling. He recognized the three people immediately. The two awake were Carol Hews and Samuel Decon, and the third was Robert Kent. These three were his team at USAMRIID.  
  
Author's Note: Cliffhanger! I love reviews, so go ahead and write something, even if it's criticism. Chapter three will take a little bit longer to get out, so be patient. 


	3. Gage

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and I don't claim to own it or its characters.  
  
Internal Warfare  
  
Chapter 3: Gage  
  
By: Jenn Lynne  
  
Relena put her hands over her mouth as she gasped. Another ESUN member had died of the Marburg virus. This was not looking good. And where had Heero gone? Her heart sank with the news of Starlen's death, he was a good man, with a wife, and a child on the way. His wife, Emmalynn and herself had gotten along quite well, and Relena had found herself, on several occasions looking for Emmalynn at parties trying to get away from the stuffy bureaucrats. Poor Emmalynn, she thought.  
  
She moved back to her bed and sat down. Placing her hands on the crisp sheets beside her. Though only moments ago, those sheets had felt so warm and comforting, now they were cold and hard, and promised no warmth. She shook her head slowly, clearing her thoughts. Thinking clearly was important now. Think Relena think. Was there anything that President Richards and Kale Starlen where working on together? No matter how hard she thought, she seemed to only draw a blank. Milliardo stood before her, watching her every move closely. He knew she was trying to think of a connection, and he knew that if anyone could find one, it would be her. And Heero. What does his disappearance have to do with this? Does it have to do with this? She decided to put the disappearance of Heero and his team out of her mind, for the moment.  
  
She looked up at Milliardo, "Has Lady Une or the other Gundam Pilots come up with any hypothesis yet?" Milliardo shook his head. Relena looked at the floor again. After a moment she sighed, and looked up at Milliardo once more. "Here's what's going to happen. First, I'm going to call up Emmalynn Starlen and convey my sorrow for the loss of her husband, and after that, you and I are going to Preventer Headquarters. We need to find a connection between Richards and Starlen before someone else winds up dead. Also, when is Vice President Montgomery having the other ESUN delegates debriefed?"  
  
"At noon tomorrow." He paused to look at her, "We are going to have a panic on our hands. Especially with Heero and his team missing."  
  
*******  
  
Megan Thomson was an Army intern at USAMRIID, training to be a veterinarian. She drove down a Virginia highway, it was now about 12:15pm. She past a familiar sign, the road leading to Reston, home of the infamous Reston Monkey house, which once contained the Ebola strain Reston. There wasn't a soul at USAMRIID who didn't know about Reston. She passed the sign every morning on her long drive to Frederick, Maryland and Fort Detrick where The Institute as it was called, was located. The traffic began to get thicker as she drove through the lunch hour crowd. She glanced in her back seat. There, sitting quietly, almost deadly quiet in it's cage was her personal pet monkey Gage. She had gotten Gage last spring from one of USAMRIID's leading scientists Charles J. Yesterday, Gage had stopped eating, and started to look funny. She had called Dr. Charles J and told him of Gage's symptoms. His eyes half open and staring, his face drooping and the small amounts of blood from his nose. She was very worried for her pet, so she moved into the fast lane and picked up speed. He confused her, because Dr. J had just given Gage a check up just 10 days before and given him an injection of something. He shouldn't be sick. She slammed on her brakes suddenly as the car in front of her came to a quick stop. "Damn." She cursed aloud as her coffee spilled onto her hand. She looked back at Gage, he seemed completely unaffected. She shrugged it off and continued on her way to The Institute.  
  
******  
  
Heero finally decided to sit up. When he did Hews and Decon immediately became silent and moved over to sit with him. Carol Hews was older than him, but lower in rank, she was a lieutenant and was very good in a Chemturion Space Suit (Pressurized, heavy-duty biological space suit used in bio safety Level 4 containment areas. Also known as a blue suit because it is bright blue.). She has soft hazel eyes and ash colored hair. Her expressions were rarely harsh, and she usually took a motherly persona toward her younger commander. Constantly nagging him about the right way to handle any given situation. Sam Decon, on the other hand, was too jumpy in the cramped suits, and his hands were too quick. Heero rarely worked directly with Decon in space suits because Decon's quick hands made him nervous. But Decon was the best at using an Electron Microscope of his team, so Heero accepted him. Decon ranked one below Carol and was twice Heero's age. Decon's hair was black, or once was, now it had streaks of premature gray through it. He, on a job two years ago in Morocco, had seen the affects of Marburg first hand on its citizens. After that, he had never worked directly with it. Robert Kent, the man still asleep, was a bookworm who was really no use in the bio safety level four. However, his knowledge was astounding, even to Heero, and Heero knew, if there was ever something he didn't know, he was sure Kent would. Kent was Heero's second in command, he was a year younger than Heero and looked up to him. Heero had taken a liking to the young genius and had taken him under his wing when he first got his job at the institute. Kent had light brown hair and compassionate gray-green eyes. He kept his hair shortly trimmed, but not military looking. He and Heero got along very well, and Kent started to look at Heero as an older brother. Heero was always willing to get him out of trouble. As most older brothers would, or so he had heard.  
  
"Sir do you have any idea what's going on?" Hews asked.  
  
Heero looked around the room a moment. "Your guess is as good as mine. I'd say we are being contained to stop our research." he lied. He knew they wouldn't understand the truth. Only he and Kent knew the truth, and then again, Kent didn't know the whole truth. Besides, he had more important things to worry about.  
  
At that very moment Kent awoke with a start, sitting straight up with his eyes wide open. "Where… what… how…?" He mumbled nearly incoherently. He looked around, then made eye contact with Heero. For some reason this calmed him greatly and he slowly moved to sit beside the other three. He nodded to Heero and a silent understanding passed between the two.  
  
"I thought so." Heero replied back to Kent's nonverbal message. Kent's eyes moved around the room.  
  
"The only way out of the room is through the main door. The hall is white, lined with nothing. It goes down to the left only about eight or nine feet before turning right. It goes down to the right a lot longer, I've never been down that way. They used to take me down the left corridor, to the right then down another long hallway into a room with big metal doors. That is where the leader, as I knew him, stayed." Kent replied with a strange kind of accuracy. It had been nearly a year since he had been in this place, and his memory was astounding. Hews and Decon looked at him strangely. A thousand and one questions could be seen swirling behind their eyes. Heero chose to ignore them and addressed Kent.  
  
"And when they let you go, where did they take you then?" Heero asked searching the room with his eyes.  
  
"Out of that room through a back door to an elevator. Up three floors and then we were in what appeared to be some sort of old hanger. There I was put into a jeep. Outside the hanger was a sloppy looking runway that had been overrun with plants. We turned right onto a small bumpy dirt road into woods. That's when they rendered me unconscious." He stated the whole thing very matter-of-factly, it was as though he had told the story a million times and this was just another normal occasion.  
  
"Would someone please tell US what's going on." Decon asked, finally speaking up.  
  
Kent's eyes flickered to him momentarily. But he said nothing. Heero spoke however, without turning to them, "Let's just say Kent has been captive here once before and I was instrumental in his release. That's all you need to know right now."  
  
Hews turned to Kent, "Why were you being held here?"  
  
Kent shrugged his shoulders, "They never told me. They wanted something from Heero, I assume he gave it to them because they let me go." It appeared as though Kent did not share Heero's thoughts on not telling the others about this. He sighed.  
  
"What did they want?" Hews asked, suddenly very superior.  
  
Heero shrunk at the question, she was definitely a dominant person and when she got angry, even he knew to stay away. "They wanted a sample of Marburg blood from the emergence in southern Morocco two years ago."  
  
The room was silent, not even Kent had known about that. Hews looked as though she was going to be sick, Decon looked as though he was going to faint and Kent just looked sad.  
  
"It was my sin that caused everything that's going on now. I forgot about the need of the many and put the world in danger. Listen I know this is a lot to take in and you all probably hate me now, but I'm going to need all of you to help me stop Montgomery." Heero said, finally letting out that final lump in his heart from what he had done. And now a new one formed, one that dreaded failure.  
  
"You mean Vice President of the ESUN Montgomery?" Hews said with a gulp of air.  
  
"Yeah." Heero said quietly.  
  
"The investigation… that's why…" Kent said mostly to himself.  
  
"What investigation, what are you talking about?" Heero asked confused.  
  
*********  
  
General Kenneth Powl looked through the file on Vice President Charles Montgomery again. He could either be defined as a hero or a murderer, and it was General Powl's job to decide which. Kenneth Powl was the commanding officer at Fort Detrick and hadn't left his office in two days, studying this file non-stop, but still this investigation was going painfully slow. Especially now the Richards was dead.  
  
There was a soft knock on his office door. "Come in." His base voice boomed in the large office. It was strained with lack of sleep and frustration. The door opened slowly and in walked Megan Thompson, his niece. In her hand was a cage carrying her pet monkey Gage.  
  
"Uncle Kenny, can you watch Gage for me while I go find Dr. J. Gage has been acting funny and I don't want to leave him in my car while I go into a level 3 containment area to find the doctor." She asked sweetly.  
  
Powl smiled at his niece, she was obviously worried about her pet. "Okay dear, I'll watch him. You go find Dr. J." Megan nodded her thanks and retreated from the room. Leaving Gage on the floor by the general's desk. General Powl got out of his seat and took a knee beside the cage. Gage's eyes didn't move at all, but the monkey stocked over to the door. It did it in a manner that was almost routine, automatic. Powl opened the cage door and picked up the small monkey in his right hand.  
  
All of the sudden, the door swung open and banged against the wall. Powl jumped up, his grip on the small monkey tightening. Gage squealed at the sudden onset of pain, it was the first thing he had really reacted to in hours. His immediate reaction was to bite Powl as hard as he could. Powl yelled as blood streamed down his arm and Gage dropped to the floor. Once the monkey landed he slumped onto the ground, ceasing movement. The lieutenant at the door held his hand over his mouth. He rushed to the general and held his wrist firmly, putting pressure on the wound. Powl and the lieutenant looked down at Gage, he lay almost lifeless on the floor. A small puddle of blood was slowly spreading out around him, either from his biting or something else. The blood was very thin, and he twitched and trembled in his conscious unconsciousness.  
  
Powl turned to the lieutenant and removed his hand from his wrist, replacing it with his own. "What did you want?" he asked.  
  
The lieutenant was startled by the question, thinking the general's injury and the semi-conscious monkey lying on the ground would be more important. "Pardon my intrusion general," he said, remembering himself, "but Dr. McCormick asked me to get you. He said it was urgent."  
  
Powl nodded, "I leave it up to you to get the nearest vet in here to look at my niece's pet. I will get a tetanus from Dr. McCormick just in case." The lieutenant nodded and left the room. Powl sighed, looking down at the monkey and leaning over him, stroking his fur lightly. "You'll be okay Gage, the vet is on his way."  
  
  
  
((Author's note: ( Yes, and the plot continues to thicken. Gage is actually the name of my friend's dog, but I wanted to name the monkey after her Gage. If you have ever seen Outbreak, Gage is one of those kinds of monkeys. Anyway, Read and Review PLEASE! I Love to hear from you guys.)) 


	4. The Investigation

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing and do not claim to.  
  
Author's Note: Umm… Enjoy! The 1xR stuff will come back in later, don't you worry.  
  
Internal Warfare  
  
Chapter 4: The Investigation  
  
By the time Relena, Milliardo and Lucrezia arrived at Preventers' headquarters all the Gundam Pilots, with the exception of Heero, had been gathered along with Lady Une. When the three entered the private meeting room, all talk ceased.  
  
Relena looked expectantly at each Gundam Pilot, "Did anyone find out anything?" she asked almost desperately. The color around her eyes was a soft shade of pink telling the story of the tears she had shed for Emmalynn Starlen over the phone.  
  
"No connection between Starlen and Richards, and absolutely no sign of Heero and his team." Wufie said with a frustrated sigh.  
  
"There were no signs of forced entry at any of the homes of the missing, however," Trowa paused, bringing attention to the next part, "while looking through the house of Heero's associate, Thomas Kent, I found signs of a struggle. This leads me to believe that Heero and his team were abducted."  
  
The knot in Relena's stomach twisted in a way that was so painful she thought she would pass out. Apparently, the look on her face did not hide this, for Quatre gently, but quickly, took her hand and led her to a seat in which he promptly pushed her down. Everyone stared at her for a moment with expressions of sorrow and understanding. All that Relena could think about was Heero. What possible danger is he in, what chance that he could be dead or dying, or infected with Marburg by some Satan worshiping asshole who they had no clues of which would aid them in finding. She lowered her eyes and a few stray tears streaked down her face. She closed her eyes tightly. Come on Relena, snap out of it, you need to be strong. Lives depend on you. Heero's life depends on you. Pick your self up and be a diplomat and keep your cool. Relena harshly wiped her tears away with a deep breath and opened her eyes. Looking up she made her chin parallel to the floor and stood on firm unwavering legs.  
  
"Well, what are you all standing around here for, you have to find the connection between Richards and Starlen and you have to find Heero. I have a meeting with Vice President Montgomery and I'll try and find out anything I can from him." Swiftly she turned around and left the room. The occupants of the room took no delay in following her instructions.  
  
Quatre paused for a moment and looked out the window at the sky. "Wherever you are Heero, I hope your having more luck than we are."  
  
********  
  
"Thomas!" Heero nearly yelled. Kent knew that when Heero referred to him by his first name it meant business. He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at him. "What investigation?" Heero asked calmly, once again controlling his voice.  
  
Kent cleared his throat, "Montgomery is also a scientist as you may or may not already know…"  
  
He was then cut off by Decon, "Yes, I worked with him during the Morocco emergence of Marburg."  
  
"Yes! Exactly." Kent said.  
  
"Exactly what?" Hews asked.  
  
"President Richards and a few other select members of the ESUN hierarchy were organizing an investigation into his handling of the emergence there." Kent went on.  
  
"Oh!" Heero replied, very knowingly. The other two looked at him as though they didn't get it, so he elaborated. "I'm sure you know, Decon, that Montgomery signed an order that signed the death warrants of thousands of Moroccan citizens, whether they were sick or not is unknown. No one to this day knows the truth and Richards must have been checking it out."  
  
"He was." Said Kent, "He organized the investigation along with five others, "General Powl down at the Institute, and ESUN Big Whigs, Kale Starlen, Susan Drypher, Lyle Arc, and oh damn, what was that last name?"  
  
Heero's heart caught in his throat for a moment, but his calm persona held, "Was it, Relena Peacecraft?"  
  
"No, Miss Peacecraft was kept out of it because she was never involved in the emergence in the first place, but it was umm…. Damn what was that man's name?"  
  
Everyone stared expectantly at Kent for a few moments, then his shoulders rose in an expression of giving up. Heero glared at him for a moment, then stood. "The first thing we have to do is get out of this room."  
  
"But how?" Kent asked, "I assure you that the door is quite solid and…"  
  
He faded off as Heero walked to the back wall, than ran toward the door and soared through the air, right foot first, kicking the door firmly in the center. The door broke on its hinges and slammed against the wall opposite it. Heero landed skillfully and turned to the others, "Coming?"  
  
*******  
  
General Powl entered the office of Doctor McCormick with a new bandage wrapped around his wrist. Dr. McCormick looked at it quizzically, "My niece's pet bit me just a minute ago, do you think you can give me a tetanus shot?"  
  
"Sure." The doctor walked over to one of the shelves lined against the white walls and retrieved a vile of yellow colored liquid and a hypodermic syringe. Slowly he drew some of the yellow liquid into the clear glass tube of the syringe, letting it drip off the end when he was done, he cleared the tube of any air bubbles. He took Powl's arm and rubbed the crook of his elbow with antiseptic and slowly pushed the needle in. He drew forth the needle from Powl's arms and rubbed the spot with antiseptic a second time while disposing of the syringe in a sharps bin.  
  
"I called you here in regards to Doctor Charles J." McCormick said after a moment. Powl's eyes widened in shock.  
  
"What about Dr. J?" Powl asked his voice wavering slightly.  
  
"He has gone missing." McCormick said carefully, "I have reason to believe he has something to do with this new emergence of Marburg amongst ESUN delegates. As you know, all telephone lines to and from this institute are tapped, well, I found several telephone calls placed from Dr. J's office to the office of Vice President Montgomery."  
  
*********  
  
Relena was led into the large office of Vice President of ESUN Charles Montgomery. Montgomery stood, his brown eyes fixed on the young women. He did not smile, but extended his hand to her.  
  
"Miss Peacecraft," he began, "Have the Preventers come up with any leads."  
  
"No, not yet." She replied as Montgomery's assistant entered with a pot of coffee and two cups. He was a large man and leaned over Relena to pour coffee for her. She was nervous about his presence but remain quiet.  
  
"I'm afraid, Miss Peacecraft, that when the other ESUN delegates hear of Starlen's death and the disappearance of Dr. Heero Yuy and his team" Relena's heart beat ten times faster at the mention of Heero's disappearance, she played nervously with the cup in her hand. "there will be a panic. And I also have the misfortune of being the one to inform you that ESUN representative Angus Lucre, has died just a few hours ago."  
  
Relena's eyes widened. Not Angus too. Angus was a chubby short old man who was jolly and cheerful when times were good and confident that times would get better when they weren't. "Well," Relena said regaining her diplomatic stance, "I will talk to the delegates myself, they seem to calm when I reassure them of my own confidence that we will find the perpetrator behind all of this."  
  
Montgomery resisted the urge to smile, "I'm afraid Miss Peacecraft that you will not be at tomorrow's meeting to reassure the other delegates."  
  
"What do you mean?" Relena asked. Montgomery's assistant approached from behind her and hit her in the head with a hard metal object. Relena's world faded to black as she fell unconscious.  
  
"Now," Montgomery addressed his assistant, "go and knock out her limo driver and ditch the car, no slip ups this time."  
  
((A/N: I know, don't you just love me when I do things like this. This abduction of Relena thing is new to me too, so we'll see how it turns out ne! Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed so far, and I would like to say again that I LOVE reviews. For those of you (probably one) who is also reading "Meant to Be" you may or may not have read that reviews make me write faster. Well, they do… Good or bad, review.)) 


	5. Interrogating Heero

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters and I don't claim to.  
  
((Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, I spent three days at the FFA State Convention and came back with temporary writers block. That and switching back and forth from writing this and "Meant to Be" which seems to be quite popular, though I am more proud of this story (which actually has a plot line) more people reviewed 'Meant to Be' so I had to delegate some time to it. Anyway, I'll stop babbling and let you read.))  
  
Internal Warfare  
  
Chapter 5: Interrogating Heero  
  
The sun seeped gloomily over the misty horizon as Heero, Kent, Hews and Decon, made there way down a seemingly endless road in a stolen jeep. The road, which had at first been surrounded by thick, dense forest, had drawn back and was now streaming endlessly through fields of long yellow grass. The yellow grass and the gloomy sunrise added to the somber mood in the vehicle. At present no one was talking, and the only one not mad at Heero was Kent, who seemed incapable of being so. Heero himself seemed not to care, but was deeply immersed in his own thoughts.  
  
Finally, Hews spoke, "Who are you?" she said addressing the question at Heero.  
  
He didn't sigh, or hesitate. At this point his mind was definitely off the subject of 'Who are you?'. "I'm was a Preventer. Formerly the Gundam Pilot zero one. Known as the Perfect Soldier." He stated with an absence of thought that was eerie. There was an absence of emotion as well that would have made the statement more disconcerting, however, by simply looking into his eyes one could tell he was feeling something. The look on his face screamed frustration, frustration with the whole situation or frustration with himself, it was anyone's guess. There was another look too, a look only picked up by Kent. He could tell that Heero was greatly saddened by something, and desired to know the reason why.  
  
"What's wrong?" He questioned with a quiet assertion of power and authority, demanding that Heero answer. Heero's eyes flickered to Kent quickly, then back to the road. "Why do you have a look of such extreme sadness?"  
  
Heero nearly veered off the road at the question. Have I become that transparent, he thought. He opted not to argue with Kent, and chose to tell him the real truth behind his sadness and utter disappointment in himself. "I have killed many men," he began, "my hands have been stained with an immense amount of blood that will never come clean. But right after the Mariemaia incident, in fact at the very end of it after the gun fell from my hand, I made a vow that I will never kill again. I said that I didn't have to anymore. That's why I turned to science, save lives instead of destroying them. And how many lives now have I destroyed now?" He paused again.  
  
Hews' eyes softened, she had been very angry with Heero since she found out of his surrender of Marburg blood. But no longer, he was punishing himself enough for her. "It's not your fault this time Heero. Like the saying goes, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' All you did was supply the weapon, the drive to use it was all Montgomery's."  
  
Heero smiled sarcastically, "A person cannot easily kill with their bare hands, excluding myself from this example, but when supplied with a weapon, they are more apt to kill, because it becomes easier. I should not have given such a deadly weapon to such a weak person."  
  
"Weak." Decon almost yelled, "The man seems quite powerful to me."  
  
Heero resisted the urge to laugh. "He is weak of character, not of power. Power is a result of cruelty, which is a result of weakness, therefor, those who are powerful are most always weak. One would not define a person such as Miss Relena Peacecraft as being powerful, because that statement negates her strength of character. One would describe her only as influential, in order to convey her properly." Heero stated very calmly. It seemed to ease his pain to talk about Relena's strength. The very thought of her lifted his spirit.  
  
Somehow, Kent saw this. He chose not to say anything at that moment, but had every intention of bringing the subject forward at a more appropriate time.  
  
"I suppose you could also define her as courageous. That's why people follow her." Hews commented.  
  
Heero smiled almost contently for a moment, "Courage is not why people follow her. They follow her because her nature is soft and honest, she is a good person who has a general care for everyone, a quality lacking in the lazy bureaucrats of today."  
  
This time Kent couldn't remain silent, that look on Heero's face and smile of contentment was too much. "It was rumored," he began, "that she had a personal relationship with one of the Gundam Pilots, is that true."  
  
Heero glanced at him momentarily. "It depends what you mean by personal. The Gundam Pilots zero three and zero five are her personal bodyguards, zero two is her best friend's boy friend and zero four is a colony diplomat. As for me, I was her personal bodyguard. But if you mean a personal relationship that went beyond friendship, it hasn't happened yet."  
  
Kent mentally slapped Heero for his lie, he could always tell when Heero was lying, it was just one of those things. "You're lying about that last part. What happened?"  
  
************  
  
"You will not get away with this." Relena stated calmly to her captors as they roughly led her down a white walled, seemingly endless, hallway. The larger man to her right smirked at her statement.  
  
"Why Miss Peacecraft," the other man gurgled out, his spit rolling around in his mouth making Relena suddenly sick to her stomach. "we have already gotten away with the most complicated part. From here on in, it should be a breeze."  
  
They turned a corner Relena hadn't even known was there, the blinding white walls made it nearly impossible to discern corners or nooks, it was just too bright. Then she saw a change in color. Her eyes welcomed the sight of the door they were approaching, it's dark brown wood eased the burning sensation that was starting to make her eyes water. She was thrown roughly through the door, and it was closed quickly behind her. The room was pitch black and she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes again she had to blink just to realize that her eyes were in fact open. Slowly and cautiously, she stood. She tried to make herself as quiet as possible. If there was any other person in this room she wanted to know about it and she figured she would hear their breathing. She heard nothing but her own ragged breaths and racing heartbeat. She walked in a direction, her hands outstretched before her as though she were blind, trying to find her way. Her hands came in contact with cool wood. She reveled in the soft coolness of the wooden wall and leaned against it for support, slowly sinking to the floor.  
  
"Heero," she breathed quietly, "I don't know where you are but please, come and save me." Her eyes welled up as tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.  
  
**********  
  
"Is Relena back yet?" Trowa asked to Quatre as he entered the control room at Preventers Headquarters.  
  
"No, she is still at Montgomery's. Odd though, I wouldn't think it would take this long." Quatre replied.  
  
"I think we should consider Montgomery a suspect." Trowa added quietly.  
  
Quatre turned around abruptly, "Why?"  
  
"He doesn't seemed worried enough that he could be next." Trowa started. He opened his mouth to continue when Duo burst through the door.  
  
"Lyle Arc is in the slammer." He said gasping for breath.  
  
"First off who is Lyle Arc, and secondly, why should we care if he's in jail." Trowa asked annoyed at the disturbance.  
  
Duo sighed and regained his composure. "Lyle Arc is an ESUN delegate with great sway among its members. And the 'slammer' is a level four containment suite inside the Institute (USAMRIID) where they put people who are, or who they suspect of, being infect with a level four hot agent."  
  
"Let me take a stab in the dark here." Trowa said his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Not only does this Arc guy have Marburg, but the only connection between him, Starlen and Richards is that they were all ESUN delegates."  
  
"That would be it." Duo said with a smug half smile. Trowa sighed.  
  
"Where are you Heero." Quatre said after a moment's pause.  
  
************  
  
"Why won't you tell me?" Kent asked again.  
  
"Why won't you drop it." Heero said raising his voice.  
  
Their car ride had continued on for a few more hours and the road still looked desolate. In the distance Heero could just make out what he thought was a gas station. He had sped up at its sight but when he told the others of it, they all thought he was seeing things because they saw nothing. But after a few minutes it came close enough that even they could make it out on the horizon line.  
  
"Why does this question bother you so much?" Kent asked in the most serious tone he could muster. Inside he was beaming with delight, he knew he was on the verge of a breakthrough with Heero and was just waiting for the other man to crack. Hews and Decon looked on silently from the back seat. They were completely riveted in the conversation and were waiting for the same thing Kent was.  
  
Heero finally lost it, "Because I'm in love with her!" he yelled as loud as he could. His face was red with anger and frustration and his grip on the wheel was so severe that his knuckles where a bleached shade of yellow. Inside he was reeling, he had finally said that out loud, but it did little to comfort his aching heart. He didn't think he deserved her, but he was determined to let her decide that, once this was all over. He hadn't wanted to tell anyone before he admitted it to her, but Kent just had a way of getting any information he wanted out of him. Heero assumed he was just getting soft, this calmed him some, he didn't want to be the perfect soldier anymore and the prospect of being soft made him feel better.  
  
Kent couldn't help the grin the spread across his face. He knew Heero was going to tell him something, but he certainly wasn't expecting that. He turned back to look at Hews and Decon. Hews was leaned back in her seat with a goofy looking grin on her face and Decon was trying his best not to smile because of Heero's angry state.  
  
They felt the car gather energy and it started traveling at an incredible speed. Kent's expression immediately returned to its normal state and he looked at the speedometer. Eighty miles and hour, then ninety and it just kept going up. He turned to Heero nervously.  
  
"Slow down Heero." He said, it was more of a demand than a request, this just seemed to anger the former Gundam Pilot more and he increased the speed. Hews began to scream in terror, thinking they would crash.  
  
After a few more moments Decon had had enough, "Heero stop this car right now!" he yelled.  
  
Heero practically slammed on his breaks. Making a dead stop right in the middle of the road. Kent looked up to find the gas station right in front of them and they were slowly pulling into a parking spot.  
  
"You are in a car with the best pilot alive, who specialty was speed flight, and you are frightened if I go over ninety in a car." Heero stepped out of the car briskly. "We're here, and if any of you EVER tell a soul what I just told you, I will not kill you, but you would be surprised what you can live through."  
  
Everyone remained frozen in their seats for a moment as Heero entered the small gas station. There was an old man reading a magazine sitting behind the counter. Heero approached him and regaining his composure, spoke as politely as he could muster. "Excuse me sir, I hate to interrupt you, but you wouldn't happen to have a telephone or a pay phone I could use."  
  
The old man looked up from behind his magazine with a big goofy smile on his face at the kind young man before him. As this was happening, Kent, Hews and Decon entered and walked up behind Heero. The old man grinned at Heero, his brown teeth in full view. "Why of course young man, I usually don't let anyone use my private phone," he said as he lifted a white corded phone from behind the counter, "but you're such a nice, polite young man, I don't know how I could refuse." Heero nodded and smiled as best he could in thanks. Picking up the receiver he dialed Preventers Headquarters.  
  
"Hello, this is Heero Yuy, put me through to…" he thought for a moment, "Trowa Barton please." There was a short pause. "Trowa it's me." He paused again as Trowa spoke. "Trowa, calm down, I need you to send someone to pick up my team and I." He listened as Trowa spoke again. Then he turned to the old man. "Excuse me again sir, but could you tell me exactly where I am."  
  
"Sure thing, you are at Al's Gas Station rout 1193 in West Kingston." The old man said proudly.  
  
"And what country." Heero asked.  
  
The old man looked at him in shock for a moment. "You're in Arizona son, in the great USA." He said not as proudly as before. Heero nodded again.  
  
"Al's Gas Station on rout 1193 in West Kingston Arizona… Yes, the United States." Heero paused again as Trowa talked. ((A/N: there is no such place to my knowledge, I made it up.))  
  
Heero hung up the phone a moment later. Then turned to his companions. "So?" Kent asked anxiously.  
  
"He's on his way." He paused, "He's taking the Concord from Sank to Dallas Texas and then he'll get a helicopter and fly here. Then we'll retrace his steps back there." Everyone nodded.  
  
"Can we get something to eat Heero, I'm starving." Hews asked in a show of helplessness.  
  
"I'm sorry Hews, but they definitely didn't leave any money on me when they abducted me while I slept, and unless you have some on you I'm afraid we are going to have to go hungry." Heero said as his own stomach growled.  
  
"You guys were abducted?" The old man asked.  
  
Kent decided it was his turn to turn on the charm, "Yes sir, and that's why we didn't know where we were. Those evil jerks took us in the middle of the night."  
  
The old man looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well then," he said cheerfully, "food's on me."  
  
((A/N: Review! What happens next time when Heero finds out that Relena went to a meeting with Vice President Montgomery and doesn't come back. Oh the humanity! Just kidding. It's not that life threatening. It seems as though I keep killing those poor ESUN delegates, yet, no bad guys have did yet. Hummmm…. That's just something to ponder. Have a lovely day… Be kind and review.)) 


	6. The Plan

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its character, and I don't claim to.  
  
Author's Note: Thank you everyone who reviewed. I owe you guys a lot. I'm sorry if it took me long to get this out. Lot's of projects but thankfully I got them all done in time. ( Don't forget to review when you're done reading.  
  
Internal Warfare  
  
Chapter 6: The Plan  
  
As Roger, the kind-hearted old man from the gas station, exited the dining room to get salt, Kent looked up at Heero who had already begun to eat his macaroni and cheese.  
  
"So," Kent began, seeing if he could get any more information out of his stoic friend, "Tell me about you and Relena. How did you two meet? When did you know you were in love with her?"  
  
Heero looked up from his food to glare at Kent from underneath his dark bangs. He continued to glare until Roger put the salt on the table and sat down. "I was in love once." Roger began, seemingly unaware that Heero was glaring at Kent for mentioning the "L" word again.  
  
"Really?" Hews cut in, getting all starry eyed, "Who was she?"  
  
"She was just a girl passing through here on her way up north. Her name was Clara. I was young then, probably not even as old as you." He said pointing to Kent. "She was so beautiful, with auburn hair and brown eyes. She carried a guitar, she was a song writer you see, headed up to Hollywood, trying to get herself heard. And her voice, oh, like a song bird it was, beautiful." He said as he salted his meal, taking the first fork full to his mouth.  
  
"How long did she stay in town?" Decon asked, surprising Hews with his interest in the story.  
  
"Just about two hours." Said Roger with a far off look in his eye.  
  
Everyone was sent crashing back to reality at this. "That's not long enough to know you love someone. You have to know them first." said Kent.  
  
"Of course it's long enough." Broke in Heero, surprising everyone except Roger, who was expecting this reply from Heero, and who so cunningly knew exactly how to get the boy to talk about his lady love. "All it takes is a moment."  
  
"Is that how it happened with you?" Hews asked, "Did you know you loved Relena the first moment you laid your eyes on her."  
  
Heero shook his head, "No, it wasn't the first time I looked at her, it was the first time I saw her." Everyone looked at him in confusion, but in vain, he was looking at his food, but not really looking at it, "I fell in love with her, when she approached me at her school, the day after we first encountered each other. That first encounter was merely when she discovered me lying unconscious on a beach, and then I awoke and I ran off. I tracked her down and enrolled at her school in order to find out what she knew, or rather, to destroy all obstacles." At this Heero stopped looking at his food and shifted his gaze to Roger who was smiling at him. "She came to me with a crowd of students behind her, and handed me a small envelope. She told me it was an invitation to her birthday party and she hoped I could come. I ripped the card up, and as I was walking passed her, I saw in her this look, she was hurt. A tear began to fall down her cheek and I couldn't stop my hand from brushing it away. It was like magic. In that moment I started to feel again. And I didn't know it at the time, but that feeling was love." When he snapped out of his reverie he was shocked at his words, he looked around cautiously. Kent and Hews looked on the verge of tears, Decon was looking thoughtfully at him and Roger just smiled.  
  
The rest of the meal went on quietly, everyone afraid to spoil the mood Heero had created with his story.  
  
Roger let them all sleep in his living room, which was above the gas station. Heero had made sure that Hews got the couch. Kent was on a reclining chair next to her and Decon occupied the old army cot that Roger had supplied. Heero was the only one sleeping on the floor. Adamant that his own comfort wasn't important. At around 2 AM Heero awoke to the sounds of a helicopter in the distance. He could just barely hear it, so he chose not to wake the others yet. He folded the blankets given him and wrote a short note to Roger. By then the sound of the helicopter was distinct and he woke the others.  
  
It was pitch black outside as Trowa skillfully landed the helicopter in front of the gas station. Roger too, had awoken with the noise and was down to great him same as the others. Though, he hadn't seen the note when he was hastily passing through the living room. Trowa exited the pilot's seat and moved around the chopper, standing before Heero.  
  
"Is everyone alright?" he asked, his voice raising to be heard over the loud machine behind him. Heero nodded. Trowa's eyes passed quickly over the other members of Heero's team and Roger. After looking at the old man, he looked back at Heero. "Let's get out of here then." With that said Heero moved to the helicopter followed by the others. He opened the back and helped Hews, Decon and Kent in, watching as they fastened their belts and then indicating to the headphones so that they could all communicate. Heero then closed the door and got in next to Trowa.  
  
As they lifted off the ground Heero waved at Roger with a knowing smile on his face. Roger waved back, a smile of "you're welcome" on his own.  
  
*************  
  
After flying for awhile in silence, Heero had finally found sleep and Trowa did not disturb him, they arrived in Dallas Texas. The sun was now high in the sky and Trowa landed, turning the machine off. He turned to wake Heero to find the other pilot already outside, opening the back door. Trowa shook his head and exited the craft as well.  
  
The Concord had been put on special delay pending the arrival of Trowa back at the airport. They entered the plain, being sent death glares left and right from passengers expecting to have been underway long ago. They all sat in first class, three seats on either side, looking at each other. Heero and Trowa sat beside each other on one side, Heero next to the window facing the cockpit. Across sat Hews, and across from Trowa sat Kent. Decon was the last to sit, requesting a pillow from the flight attendant.  
  
"Kale Starlen and Lyle Arc have both gone down. Starlen a few days ago and Arc just this morning." Trowa said after the plain leveled in the sky.  
  
"See, I told you, Lyle Arc." Kent said to Heero, earning a puzzled look from Trowa.  
  
"How could you have known he died this morning, we were in the helicopter this morning?" Heero asked looking at Kent but addressing Trowa.  
  
"I was paged by Duo." Trowa responded quietly. "What is he talking about?" he said gesturing toward Kent.  
  
As Kent was about to speak, ready to reveal the truth about Montgomery to Heero's friend and fellow Gundam Pilot, when he received a sharp kick in the leg from Heero. "All you need to know is not to trust anyone within the ESUN, or USAMRIID. Lyle Arc and Kale Starlen were, along with General Kenneth Powl, Susan Drypher, and one other, whose name Kent can't remember, the targets of the man who's responsible for all of this."  
  
Trowa didn't look surprised that Heero knew this or that he was only being given some of the information. "Look Heero," he began, becoming very serious, "Yesterday Relena went to talk to Vice President of the ESUN Charles Montgomery. She hasn't returned and I think he has something to do with this." Heero stiffened and turned pale. Hews' eyes became wide and Kent had the urge to cry for him. "How bad is it?" Trowa asked, knowing what this looked meant.  
  
Heero shook his head, making eye contact with Trowa, "Bad." was all he could say, and even so his voice cracked. Tears began to well into his eyes at the conscious thought of loosing Relena. He looked away from the others, out the window beside him.  
  
Kent looked at him with incredible sympathy. He knew Heero hated when people felt sorry for him, but now it didn't matter. He slowly unbuckled his seat belt and moved in front of Heero, putting his hand on his shoulder. Heero looked up at Kent, fighting a harsh battle with the tears that threatened to fall. Kent bent down and hugged his friend tightly, more like a brother to him really. At first, Heero didn't react, then with a wrenching sob, he began to cry on Kent's shoulder.  
  
Trowa wasn't surprised that Heero would cry over that fact that he may loose Relena, he was surprised at the fact that he would do it in public, and on someone's shoulder no less.  
  
After a while, Heero's crying ceased and Kent sat back down. Heero looked quizzically at the floor. Completely focused on something other than it. He looked up at Kent, then his eyes flashed to Trowa. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. You're going to find Powl and Dreyfer and get them into the slammer back at USAMRIID. Then, you're going to find out the fifth person who was investigating Montgomery's actions during the outbreak of Marburg in Morocco, and get that person into the slammer. We," he said looking at his team, "are going to split up. Kent, and I, along with Trowa and a small contingent of agents are going to Montgomery's home outside Newport. Hews, and Decon will go with another Gundam Pilot, probably Duo, to Montgomery's offices in France." He looked around and saw no one ready to argue. "Are there any questions?"  
  
**********  
  
Roger walked into his living room shortly after the helicopter had taken to the air. The room was in shambles, except for the skillfully folded blankets on the floor. His eye caught the note on the coffee table and he smiled. Unfolding it, he read.  
  
Roger,  
  
I know what you did and thank you. Telling them, and you, about Relena made me feel more at ease. I'll be sure to keep you informed, if I ever get the courage to tell her.  
  
Yours Friend,  
  
Heero Yuy  
  
Roger looked thoughtfully at the note. "Just be sure to invite me to the wedding." He said to it quietly, folding it neatly, and placing it back on the table. "I can't wait for Clara to get home from her visit with her mother. I can't wait to tell her about the boy." He said joyfully looking out the window.  
  
He looked at his hands and the wedding ring that sat comfortably there. "I guess taking this off yesterday morning to clean the car wasn't that bad an idea. It set them all up for that story." He laughed knowingly at his own craftiness.  
  
***********  
  
Relena walked ten paces up the length of the room in which she was put. Ten paces long and six paces short. She thought as she walked aimlessly around the room again. She had been there for some considerable time now and she had seen neither light nor person. She had heard nothing from outside the room and received no food. And no matter the danger she was in, her thoughts were on others. I hope no one else has died because of Montgomery. He will pay for this. Heero… Are you safe Heero? Are you trapped in the next room in much the same position as myself? Will you save me and whisk me off my feet in a frenzy of romance. She laughed at herself. Not only was that absurd, but she really didn't want that kind of fake romance with Heero. She wanted something more real, more touchable, not some Romeo and Juliet 'I've known you for a day lets get married!' She sighed and sat down again. Content for the moment in her musings. What would Heero be like as a husband? She pictured herself walking in the door after a long day's work and putting down her brief case. Heero entered with two children, a girl and a boy. The girl was holding onto his lag and looked sleepy as she released her father and embraced her mother. The boy was asleep on Heero's shoulder. He was obviously younger than the girl and even in his sleep seemed to hold Heero's shirt excessively tight in order to remain as close to his father as possible, delaying bed for as long as possible. Heero took a few steps closer and kissed her softly on the lips. Then, leaning down, took the little girl's hand in his free one and brought her upstairs. Relena all the sudden laughed so loudly she frightened herself as the sound echoed off the walls. She shook her head, And I thought I had gotten over him along time ago. Heero why did you have to kiss me? She smiled at the remembrance of their kiss. Why were you crying?  
  
((A/N: By now everyone should know the drill. Be kind and review please. In the next Chapter, someone will find Relena AND Marburg. And of coarse a few more people will die in the process. Maybe we'll get lucky and I'll kill some bad guys! Anyway, review!!!)) 


	7. Saviors and Blood

Disclaimer; I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters and I don't claim to!  
  
Author's note: I'm on the winding end I think. Or maybe not. You never really know with me. I just hope I'm not predicable. Although no one has figured my secret out yet, or maybe if you think you know you haven't said it. Thanks and Hugs to everyone who has reviewed so far. I just have one other thing to say to you guys, "REVIEW AGAIN" and to those of you who haven't yet, review this time…  
  
Internal Warfare  
  
Chapter 7: Saviors and Blood  
  
The car ride back to Preventer Headquarters was as silent as the helicopter ride, a startling change from the loud ride on the Concord. Heero sat in the passenger seat of Trowa's SUV, Decon behind him, Kent in the middle and Hews behind Trowa. Hews' hazel eyes flashed in what appeared to be a mixture of excitement and sadness. Her window was cracked slightly, letting in the cool spring air of the late day. Her ash colored hair was flowing over her shoulders now, she had let it out of the confines of its tight bun and seemed to be enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing through it.  
  
Trowa and Heero had done a lot of work while on the Concord, calling Lady Une and setting things up for the invasion and capture of Charles Montgomery, who had already been stripped of his title as Vice President of the ESUN, although he didn't know it yet. In compliance with Heero, who's nerves were getting worse and worse, and dreaded any bad news, Trowa had turned his cell phone off. He had noticed that every time his phone rang, Heero would turn a soft shade of green in anticipation of the horrible news he expected to hear.  
  
They turned into the Preventer parking lot. A guard immediately approached the car, but upon seeing Trowa's face and sharp emerald eyes, he backed away, waving them in. Heero sighed as they parked and he got out of the car.  
  
"Here we go." He said softly, but everyone heard. Then, in a display of sure determination and skill, he put on his emotionless soldier mask and put one hand, palm down, on the hood of the car, lifting himself over it in a swift graceful motion.  
  
Trowa looked at Heero as though this were an every day occurrence. "Let's go." He said as he began to walk away. They all followed him to the elevator. A guard already had it open, waiting for them, Trowa entered without thanking him. This earned him a glare from Hews, who turned to the man and nodded in thanks.  
  
As the doors closed she turned again to Trowa, "That was very rude. Have you no manners? You may be some spoiled Gundam Pilot, but didn't your mother at least teach you to be polite?" she nearly yelled.  
  
Trowa didn't bother to turn his gaze on her. He kept his eyes level and flat and his expression calm. "I'm an orphan." Was all he said. It was said in a way that was so obvious it was disconcerting. Like a "duh" without the 'smart ass' part.  
  
Hews shivered. "I'm sorry," she said, almost out of breath of the emotionless way he had said it, "I didn't know…"  
  
"Hews, you will someday learn," Heero began looking at her in a way that made her shiver, his expression was so cold she was actually frightened of him, "that people are not as shallow as you make them all out to be." He looked over at Trowa, "The judgment you made on Trowa's character was so blind." He again rested his gaze on her, "He has been solely responsible for saving millions of lives in his short life time, he is indirectly responsible for so many more. He saved my life before he even knew me, putting his own life in danger of an enemy he didn't know, one that may have struck him while his back was turned or his defenses lowered." Trowa raised his hand for silence, finally shifting his own gaze to Hews.  
  
"In times of stress and confusion, one tends to forget courtesy. But as for that man, he asked me not to thank him every time he opened the elevator for me. He said it made him feel like he wasn't my equal if I thanked him for every miniscule task." He turned his gaze toward the doors as they opened, "But I must admit, it took guts to say that to someone who could kill you without breaking a sweat or thinking twice about the deed."  
  
Hews was frozen in place as the others followed Trowa out of the elevator, not quite sure how to react after that, she didn't move. After a moment Decon returned, his light brown eyes shining with amusement, "Come on Carol, these kids are way to interesting not to watch."  
  
"And way to smart not to listen too." She added under her breath as she followed the other man out.  
  
*********  
  
They were just about to depart on their mission, all that was left was who was going where. Groups of 25 agents, or so, had already been assembled, one group for each destination. All that was left were the leaders.  
  
"Heero, if your going to his house outside Newport, I'm going to France. Most likely Relena is at one of these locations, and you are the only one, other than myself, that I trust with her life. If you find her, you keep her by your side. If I find her, I'll do the same." Zechs said as he glared at the wall fiercely. Heero nodded in compliance.  
  
"Trowa, you and Quatre will come with me, Duo I want you and Wufei to accompany Zechs, Decon and Hews to France." Heero said after a moment. No one argued.  
  
Sally Po entered the room suddenly, a phone in one hand and a worried expression on her face. "Kent!" she cried.  
  
Kent was startle and looked as though he was going to faint, "Yes?" he said meekly.  
  
"Was the fifth Dr. Charles J?" She asked urgently.  
  
"That's it!" Kent cried, happy that he had remembered.  
  
All eyes shifted to Heero. Kent, Hews and Decon looked on in confusion, as Sally spoke again, "Dr. McCormick from USAMRIID just informed us of his disappearance." Heero nodded.  
  
"Now what?" Duo asked.  
  
"Go on with the mission as planned. If anyone runs into Dr. J, capture him ALIVE, if possible. If not, I know where his hidden base is, he can't hide from me, he trained me, I know all his tactics." Heero responded as he left the room to get ready.  
  
********  
  
Half of Montgomery's home was now under Preventer control. Heero, Kent and Trowa ran down a hallway in silence, Heero at the head. All of the sudden Heero skidded to a stop in front of one of the adjacent hallways. The walls in this place were so immaculately white you couldn't tell where halls where until you were on top of them. Heero pointed down the hallway to his right. Kent and Trowa followed his gaze to find a metal door baring the biohazard symbol (looks kind of like a spiky flower, sort of.). He walked up to the door. Written on the thick glass of the door was 'GREY ZONE'. This is the area that separates the outside world from the 'Hot Zone'. Heero glanced over his shoulder at Trowa.  
  
"Keep going, and try to find Relena. We'll be in here. You can enter the Grey Zone only if this light is green," he said indicating to the warning light over the door. "Under no circumstances are you to open this door if the light is yellow or red." As he said this, Heero opened the door that led into the Grey Zone. Trowa turned around and continued on his way.  
  
*********  
  
Relena could hear footsteps in the corridor outside her door. She was on the opposite wall of her dark room, as far away form the door as possible. She heard many sets of footsteps run by frantically, than gun shots. After a few minutes it grew silent again and a lone set of footsteps made their way toward her. She was panicked, curled up into a little ball on the floor. Then she heard a voice from far off yell, "TROWA SIR, I JUST GOT WORD FROM HEADQUATERS, THEY DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING AT MONTGOMERY'S OFFICES!"  
  
Relena gasped, then she heard Trowa's reply, his voice coming from just outside her door. "THANK YOU MIKE! GO BACK AND HELP ALPHA SQUAD SECURE THE AREA AROUND THE HOT ZONE!"  
  
Relena ran to the door, forgetting to count her steps, she hit it hard. "TROWA!" she screamed. The door opened suddenly and Relena shrank back at the bright light of the hallway. The supportive arms of her friend instantly surrounded her as he helped her to stand before him.  
  
After a moment she was able to open her eyes, squinting to look upon her savior. Trowa had a genuine smile on his face as he looked down at her. "I'm so glad you're okay." He said excitedly.  
  
Relena smiled. But her smile quickly faded as she looked at him pleadingly, "Have you heard any news of Heero, is he alright?" she asked frantically.  
  
Trowa laughed, "He's fine. I'll explain later, come on, I'll take you to him." He walked out of the room in front of her. She put her hand on her forehead, shading her eyes to see. Not far down the hall they came to a group of armed Preventers guarding a door labeled 'GREY ZONE'. Trowa looked up at the light, which was green, then turned to Relena.  
  
"Let's go in, shall we?" he said as he opened the door and stepped inside. The wall to her left was metal and cold, but to her right, it was all glass 6 in thick. On the glass was written 'HOT ZONE: BIOHAZARD LEVEL 4' and below that, 'CAUTION'. Relena peered through the glass at the two figures. Both were wearing yellow space suits and were oblivious to their presence. They seemed to be talking, huddled over something. One stepped away for a moment, toward the glass. He looked through it and saw Trowa and Relena, it was Kent. His face was covered in sweat and he was breathing ragged, the stress of the room getting to him. He smiled and turned back around and over to Heero. Saying something. Heero turned around to regard the two on the other side of the glass. His face was also sweaty but his breathing was controlled and so was his expression. He made eye contact with Relena and almost smiled, but caught himself. Trowa pushed a piece of paper up against the glass. Heero read it and nodded. Then, turned back around to work.  
  
"Okay Relena," Trowa said turning to her. "I have to go, but stay here until those two are done in there and then go with them." He turned around to leave but stopped and turned back. "When Heero found out you had been taken by Montgomery," he began in a whispered tone. Relena moved in closer, hanging on every word. "he broke down and cried right there in front of me and his entire team, on Kent's shoulder no less." He said gesturing at the window. "I don't think I have ever seen so much fear in his face at the thought of losing you." He turned around and walked away, pausing at the door to turn back. By now, Relena's eyes were fully adjusted, but were misting with tears. "Don't tell him I told you that." He said as he opened the door and stepped out.  
  
********  
  
"She's pretty." Said Kent on the other side of the glass, approaching Heero with a large tub full of bleach.  
  
Heero didn't say anything until Kent put the large container of bleach down. "How should I tell her?" he asked, his eyes pleading at Kent for answers.  
  
Kent smiled, "Just be honest and tell her how you feel." He sighed and shifted in his yellow self-contained space suit. "If all else fails tell her that story you told us about when you fell in love with her. That has to work." As they were speaking they were opening containers of blood and dropping everything, container, lid, blood, into the bleach.  
  
Heero smiled at Kent, who laughed at a joke that passed between them without a word spoken. Then, a container of blood slipped from Heero's hand suddenly. Both of them dived to the floor to catch it, and Heero did. Making eye contact with Kent and visibly sighing. He glanced back at Relena who looked as though she had screamed when the container had fallen from his hand and gave her a weak smile. Indicating that everything was okay. She had moved very close to the glass, and even though she visibly relaxed she didn't move away from it. Heero looked back at Kent, then at the container. Taking the lid off slowly, he put it into the bleach.  
  
There were only four more now. Kent took two and Heero took two. Emptying them quickly and heading for the Decon Zone (Decon meaning decontamination, like a cleaning room, not the person). Heero entered first as Kent remained inside, setting up a hose which had been marked as bleach. He walked over to the bleach tub and dumped the liquid into the drain in the floor. Relena watched him carefully as he did this. The yellow light on the Decon Zone, leading to the Grey Zone turned from yellow to green as Heero stepped out in his space suit. Relena looked at him and had the urge to run to him right then and there and hug him. He looked exhausted and was panting. He walked over to her.  
  
"Can you help me?" He asked in a raised tone to speak over the sound of his battery-powered respirator. He turned around to reveal a tape- covered zipper. Relena pealed off the tape and unzipped the suit. Heero then stepped away sitting down at the bench beside the Decon Zone, he peeled his suit off, eyes riveted on Kent. Relena returned her gaze reluctantly to Kent, but moved closer to Heero.  
  
Kent turned the hose on, and let the head release. A stream of blood came forcefully from it. It's pressure ripping the hose from Kent's hands.  
  
"Shit!" Heero cried as he started putting his suit back on again. Blood now covered the window and Kent was on longer visible.  
  
((A/N: Don, Don, Don! Oh No. I didn't kill any more bad guys that I really talked about and now Kent's in trouble! I must really like Angst! REVIEW and I'll write faster. About that biohazard symbol, it looks like a flower, sort of, only spiky. I'll find a picture of one and post it on my web site for you. So go there if you want to see it. I'll put it in my fanfiction section. Review please!) 


	8. Extreme Exposure

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters and I do not claim to.  
  
Author's Note: Gomen, I didn't mean for it to take this long to get this chapter out. I ended up getting distracted by writing a sequel to "I'm Movin' On" for the TWO people who reviewed. Anyway, I love reveiws!!! ( So go ahead and review! PLEASE!  
  
Internal Warfare  
  
Chapter 8: Extreme Exposure  
  
Heero was panicking. Why did I leave him alone in there? he thought to himself in desperation as he hurriedly put his suit back on, Hold on Kent, I'm coming. He looked back at the glass momentarily. The stream of blood has ceased, either by Kent turning off the hose, or it having run empty. All of the sudden a hand smeared the blood from the glass, allowing Kent's face to be visible, though barely. His suit was covered from head to toe in blood, and the glass was smeared with it, obscuring perfect vision. He panted harshly, and looked at Heero with worried eyes. Heero said nothing, but continued to suit up. After putting the plastic part back over his face he turned toward Relena and pointed to something behind her. A role of tape lay on the table there, she turned and picked it up knowingly. Heero turned back around and she zipped his suit up. She then carefully covered the zipper with the tape, making sure that the hold was airtight. After a moment, Heero turned his air back on and looked at her. He didn't smile, but tried to make it look, with his eyes, as though nothing was wrong. He turned his eyes back to the glass where Kent was still looking through at them. He nodded again and turned away from Relena, reentering the Decon Zone.  
  
A few moments later he reemerged in the Hot Zone. He walked up to Kent, who's breathing was still harsh, and now, he was visibly trembling. Heero put his hand softly on Kent's shoulder, then he moved away. He moved back to the closet they had found the bleach in, and retrieved more bottles. He moved back over to the hose. The tag on it did say bleach, but he knew better this time. Next to this hose was another one that read, CAUTION DO NOT USE! And Heero smirked. He motioned for Kent to move toward him and they both held this hose. Heero released the head and bleach poured out of it with as much force as the blood had from the other hose. They sprayed it over the entire room and the glass cleared, Relena could be seen on the other side, standing right up against it.  
  
Next came the hose full of blood. Heero looked behind him at Kent, "Did you turn the other hose off or did it run out?"  
  
"I turned it off." He said back. Heero nodded. They moved to the other hose and proceeded to once again let the blood flow from the hose. It flowed without interruption for another five minutes, before it stopped. The two moved back to the other hose and again washed the room down. Then they took the blood filled hose apart, and washed that out. After they felt the hose had been sufficiently drenched in bleach, they turned the bleach hose off.  
  
Each then took a scrub brush and a gallon of bleach and inspected the room. Every nook and cranny that had been missed was thoroughly drenched and cleaned in bleach. When this had been successfully completed Heero and Kent met in the middle of the room.  
  
"We have another problem." Kent said, yelling over both their respirators.  
  
Heero eyes flashed in fear a moment, "And what would that be."  
  
Kent sighed uneasily and his eyes betrayed his fear, "When we both dove to the ground for that container of blood, well, my suit ripped." Heero's eyes widened in fear, Kent had had extreme exposure to Marburg. "I didn't notice it until after I turned that hose off. When I felt liquid running down my back, in a steady stream, not like sweat." Heero's head was reeling, this was bad, very bad.  
  
He pushed Kent toward the Decon Zone and they both entered together. After a seven-minute period of decontamination, they entered the Grey Zone. Heero inspected the back of Kent's suit immediately. Fear gripped his chest as he found the large split in the lining. Then he proceeded to remove the tape and unzip Kent's suit. Kent turned off his respirator and peeled his suit off. Blood was everywhere inside the suit. Heero motioned for Relena to move further away and she pressed her back against the exit. Kent turned his head back to Heero and nodded. Exiting that room through a side door. Heero checked his gloved hands to see if any blood had gotten onto his gloves. He didn't see any, but just to be safe he walked over to the sink full of Decon Soap and soaked his gloves in it for a moment. Then he looked at Relena. She approached and he turned away. Again she removed the tape from the back of his suit and unzipped him. She searched his features after he turned around for the motives to him having her move further away. He couldn't stand her concerned look and after peeling his suit down to his ankles, pulled her to him and held her. She leaned into him and reveled in his warmth.  
  
After a minute or two Heero spoke. Realizing the respirator on his suit was still running, he released her and leaned down to turn it off.  
  
"We've all been exposed to it now." He said as he sat on the bench that he had sat on before. Relena looked at him in confusion. He was, at present, unwrapping the tape that bound his waterproof footwear and his pant legs. "Kent's suit ripped when we dove for that container of blood. He has had an extreme exposure, and you and I have had limited exposure, to Marburg." Relena remained silent at his words. She was surprised that he maintained eye contact the whole time  
  
He glanced momentarily at the door from which Kent had exited, then looked down at his surgical scrubs. "I'll be back in five minutes, I need a shower." He said as he walked passed Relena toward a control panel next to the door. Reading it, he pushed a button. "I've just activated the negative air pressure system," he paused, glancing at the now red light above the door. "Yell when that light turns yellow, but don't open the door."  
  
As he turned back to leave, he made eye contact with her again. The tears in her eyes shocked him. He again took her into his arms and cradled her form as she had, more than once, done to him. She put her head on his shoulder and cried.  
  
"It will be all right." He whispered quietly into her ear.  
  
************  
  
"Are you sure that that place is clean?" Trowa asked Duo for the forth time.  
  
"YES! Trowa it's clean." Duo said almost yelling at the image of Trowa on the screen in front of him. Trowa's eyes narrowed at Duo's tone, but calmed after a moment back to his normal impassive stare.  
  
"Well, we found Marburg and Relena." He said, not really looking at Duo anymore. "Relena is fine, though a little malnourished, she's with Heero now. He and Kent were in the process of destroying the Marburg held here when I last saw them."  
  
"So you don't really know if all went well?" Hews asked pushing Duo out of the way to look at Trowa. He didn't look back at her. Rather, he looked at something to his left.  
  
"That would be correct, though I'm sure everything is under control." He paused and made eye contact with Hews. "However, I would like to know what it means that the light above the Grey Zone is red."  
  
"It just means that the negative air pressure has been activated." She seemed to become nervous under his gaze as she aimlessly played with the fabric of her shirt. "It will make it so that, when the door to the outside world is opened, air will only travel into the room, not out." She paused again. "While it has not been proven that Marburg can or cannot be transmitted through the air, or even more unlikely that it would survive the Decon Chamber, it is just an extra safety precaution. When the pressurization is complete, and the whole process last about three minutes, the light will turn yellow. When this happens, the door is safe to be opened, however, it is not a good idea to never open a Grey Zone door from the outside when the air inside has a negative pressure. You would be sucked in so quickly you wouldn't know what happened to you."  
  
"Thanks." He said, terminating the connection, the light on the door had been red for a minute and a half. He leaned up against the wall beside the door and waited.  
  
**************  
  
Charles Montgomery stood pacing in front of Dr. J's desk in his office at his secret base. Dr. J looked bored and was playing with a pencil on his desk, rolling it back and forth.  
  
"Those stupid kids think they've beaten me." Montgomery growled.  
  
"Haven't they?" Dr. J said, no amusement evident in his voice or demeanor.  
  
"Oh coarse not. Now we go to plan B"  
  
*************  
  
Kent was already fully dressed when Heero walked over and sat next to him. He was wearing boxer shorts and had a towel hung over his shoulders.  
  
"So," Kent began a little shaky, "I have to spend some time in the slammer?" It wasn't really a question, Kent knew he was going to the slammer.  
  
"Yeah." Heero replied, his voice was soft and quiet, "Relena and I too."  
  
Kent just nodded. Heero stood, pulling on a pair of khaki pants. "Have you told her?" Kent asked looking up at the other man.  
  
"Have I told who what?" Heero asked in a disinterested tone as he reached for his shirt.  
  
"Don't play dumb! Have you told Relena?" Kent said a small smile playing on his lips.  
  
"Not yet." Heero said, remaining detached as he buttoned his white shirt.  
  
"Why not?" Kent almost yelled.  
  
Heero's eyes snapped to Kent in surprise. "When was I supposed to do this Kent? Before or after I told her we had all been exposed to Marburg?"  
  
Kent's composer wavered at Heero's outburst. Tears welled in his eyes. He looked away for a moment, then back, not making eye contact. "Heero am I going to die?" he asked, his voice solemn and soft.  
  
Heero sat back down beside Kent and put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I don't know." His tone was tender, caring and sympathetic.  
  
"The light's yellow!" was the muffled yell that came from the other room.  
  
Kent stood. "Let's get the hell out of here!" he said as he strode toward the door.  
  
Heero quickly stood and followed. "Lets."  
  
As they walked back into the main area of the Grey Zone they found Relena by the door leaned up against the glass. Kent smiled at her and nodded. As he passed her, he noticed, she fell in line next to Heero. At the door Kent turned to Heero and Relena. Heero nodded and turned to Relena.  
  
"Relena, I've put this room on negative air pressure, which means when we open that door air is only going to flow in, not out." He began.  
  
"This," Kent continued, "makes it difficult for virus particles to leave the Grey Zone, however…"  
  
"It also makes it difficult for us to just walk out." Heero finished.  
  
Relena nodded in understanding and braced herself. Kent turned back around and reached for the door handle. Heero slipped his hand into Relena's, holding her tightly. She moved her eyes so that she looked at him. He made eye contact with her for a moment before turning back to the door, she did the same. Kent opened the door and pushed his weight against the air that flowed in. Relena and Heero began to move out together once Kent was out of the way. One of Relena's feet slipped and she almost fell, but Heero wrapped his arms around her waist quickly, pulling her out with him. Once outside the room, with the door sealed behind them, Kent, Heero and Relena sat on the floor. Heero had forgotten that he was holding Relena and continued to do so without thought. Though this action didn't go unnoticed to Kent, Relena or Trowa, who now stood over them.  
  
"Have fun?" Trowa asked at the gloomy expression on Kent's face. He didn't look up, just remained staring at Heero and Relena, though it was obvious he heard. Relena's face was red with her blush, but Heero still hadn't noticed anything, his eyes were closed and his mind somewhere else. Trowa outstretched his hand to Relena, she took it and he gently pulled her out of Heero's arms and on her feet. It seemed, that with the act of moving her, Heero had realized what he had done. A faint blush stained his cheeks. Kent stood, not making eye contact with anyone, and soon after Heero followed.  
  
Trowa took this opportunity to fill them in, "Well," he began, "all the people involved with Montgomery's investigation are positive for Marburg, except Dr. J, but I doubt he has it. And there is no sign of Montgomery himself any where here, or at his offices." Heero nodded, deep in thought.  
  
"I think I know where he is." Heero said quietly.  
  
((A/N: Sorry this took my awhile, and it is kind of short… I have no idea what's going to happen in the next chapter. It will all depend on my mood. Maybe, Heero will go to Dr. J and get Montgomery… Maybe he'll confess his feelings for Relena… And what, oh what is plan B? I know, ha ha ha! But I'm not going to give anything away. Okay, I'm going to add a warning, now that I know it's going to actually happen, one, or more, of the main characters is going to die. I know I know. Gomen in advance. Anyway, REVIEW!!! PLEASE!))  
  
((Errors: I have made a few errors that I want to bring to people's attention. In chapter 7, I had forgotten that the Decon Chamber takes 7 minutes to decontaminate a suit. I remembered this time, but didn't make it take that long when Heero was entering because I didn't think he would care about bringing possible pathogens into the Hot Zone. Also, I don't think it's possible for the Grey Zone to be put on negative pressure in real life. I don't remember if it ever happened in the book, "The Hot Zone". I do know, however, that the suits they wear are on negative pressure, so I just took it a step further. I think that's it.)) 


	9. Plan B... Ebola?

Internal Warfare

Chapter 9: Plan B… Ebola?

Pacing, Heero could only now begin to register the grief he felt. It had been seventeen days, seventeen days in the slammer and not one of them had developed that first headache, that one single pain that let you know that you now had a 75 percent chance of dying. They had been separated as soon as they reached USAMRIID, and Heero had quickly found himself missing both Kent and Relena. He had resolved now to tell her that he was in love with her as soon as this whole mess was done and over with, but now he was in agony. Today he had been informed that Kent had awoken with the headache, Kent had Marburg and it was his fault.

He sighed as he slumped into a chair in his white, sterile, room. He hunched over and put his head in his hands. "No." he said to himself, not as confidently as he wanted to sound, "I could do nothing more to prevent this. Kent was almost destined to die. If I had said no in the first place he would be dead already, and when I said yes, he ended up like this anyway, helping _me_ to fix _my_ mistake." He laid back and looked at the ceiling. "No matter what I do, God won't let me pay for my sins with my own life." He looked again at the glass window leading to the Grey Zone. "I should not have let him help me. I could have done it on my own." He stood again and continued his pacing. "No, I shouldn't talk like this. Kent is strong, he'll fight Marburg. He'll make it out of this alive, he has to."

***************

__

Dear Diary,

It has been nineteen days. It's become torturous. I heard that Kent has gotten **the headache**, the first sign that you have contracted the Marburg virus. I wonder how Heero's taking it. They finally allowed me a pen and my diary. I have been requesting they bring it for a while, I want my thoughts on paper during this time, I don't think I would be able to retain my sanity otherwise. 

I was so shocked at first when I observed the regard that passed between Kent and Heero. I was also startled at his affection toward me. He looked so good up there in front of all of the ESUN delegates. So smart and commanding, yet saddened by some inner turmoil. I'm almost certain now that that turmoil he spoke of in the form of his "sin" has something to do with how Montgomery got the Marburg virus in the first place. I have tried desperately to put that thought out of my mind. I do not want to think of Heero like that; as a party to all this suffering.

Oh Heero! I received a letter from Trowa today. Somehow they let him write me a letter. Did he write you one too? I asked the man who brings my meals if I could write one to you, he said that it would be to great a risk. You know, spreading the disease from me to you. Trowa told me he saw you cry. That it was the most disconcerting moment with you he had ever experienced and that it tore him apart. He said your eyes were so sad that he wanted to cry with you. He also told me that you let the tears flow freely in front of him, your team and even on Kent's shoulder. Oh Heero, how much **have **you changed?

It scares me to think of you changing, for I have not. I still love you uncontrollably and struggle to hide it. I retain those urges to follow you everywhere and sit by your side in silence. And dance… I am afraid to think of you changed. You appeared to me at first only slightly different. But you let me, even if only for a moment, to hold your hand. You have no idea how my heart leapt and sang at that moment, and how it was pulled back to Earth when you pulled away again. I wonder if I will get to know that new you. I am so afraid that you may have changed so much that I will no longer find that mystery in your eyes, though I severely doubt it, it stings the back of my mind without end.

Why is it, I ask myself, that I always start writing to my diary and end up writing to you Heero? Is it because I love you?

I hope you make it through this my love, and I hope Kent and I do too. But we are second to you in my mind. The world is second to you, Heero. It is cruel and unforgiving and ungrateful of you and so unworthy of your life. I choke every time I hear some careless bureaucrat slander the title of Gundam Pilot; and every mob that screams for war sickens me. They do not understand, Heero. How could they? They don't know what war does to people, they don't know about the sacrifice of innocents, your innocents. I love you, my dear, dear Heero.

Relena

****************

Heero smiled at the piece of paper in his hands. Trowa had managed to get a letter to him. He shook his head in amusement as he read what Duo had done to Wufei. He noted that Trowa had only written about matters not concerning those of the Marburg situation. Though it was a little disappointing, not knowing what was going on in the outside world, he was grateful to have something to keep his attention away from Kent. His eyes scanned the paper and he frowned as the letter ended. He picked up the envelope from the table and walked with it to the trash. As he was about to throw it in, he noticed the corner of a picture from within it. He smiled again and took the picture from the envelope.

It was of Relena. She was on the beach standing beside a beautiful sunrise. She was looking out to sea, not seeming to notice the camera. Her long hair was tied back with an aqua colored ribbon, and she was wearing a bikini of the same color. So looked lonely in the picture, sad and contemplative, so very lonely.

Heero placed the picture beside his bed. "I will tell you how I feel soon." He scanned the room. "If I ever get out of here." 

***************

Heero blinked several times as he entered the hall outside of the Grey Zone. The walls were a pale tan, but where still quite nice to one whose eyes have seen nothing but stark white for so long. He had finally been released and he loved it already. He breathed the air deeply. It was a great smell, not as stuffy and controlled as inside the slammer. He rounded a corner, heading to his office to get out of his surgical scrubs. As he spotted the deep mahogany doors he stopped. Trowa was standing beside his door waiting for him. 

"We have to go now." He said simply.

"What do I need?" Heero asked, seeing this question as more important than where they would be going.

"Nothing." Trowa turned and began walking down the hall to the elevator. Following close behind, Heero's heart beat loudly with anticipation.

"Where are we going?" Heero finally asked as they entered the elevator and it began to move up.

"To a helicopter on the roof."

Trowa had averted his gaze as he answered the question without really answering the question. Heero shook his head.

"And where will the helicopter be taking us?"

"To the hospital." Trowa said simply.

Heero's mind became frantic, but he showed none of it. "What of the ESUN delegates and General who contracted Marburg?"

Trowa seemed to settle some at the question, finally something that didn't seem to unnerve him as much as the other direction of conversation. "All dead." He paused, glancing carefully sideways at Heero. "Have you heard about Kent?"

"They stopped updating me when they observed how much it seemed to upset me. How is he?" For the last three words his eyes met Trowa's. He looked tired and scared and god only knows what thoughts had gone through his head during his time in the slammer.

Trowa didn't avert his gaze, "Not well." He looked up as the elevator door slid open. "He's already started vomiting that tarry substance."

"_Vomito Negro_." Heero stated absently, looking distractedly at the helicopter now in his view.

***************

They landed on the roof of the hospital and exited the helicopter. As Heero's eyes scanned the roof he found what looked like a large plastic tube covering the door, big enough for a couple people to fit in. On the entrance of the tube, which was a zipper flap, were the words 'GREY ZONE'. Heero flinched unconsciously and looked at Trowa who had walked over to a couple of men near the tube and was being helped into a containment suit. Heero followed his example and allowed the men to help him into a suit as well.

Heero put on his respirator and looked back at Trowa, who had already entered the Grey Zone and was waiting for him.

**************

A few minutes later they were on the elevator inside the hospital. When the cold metal doors opened, Heero felt his legs go weak at the sight before him. The Hospital was filled, literally, from wall to wall, with patients exhibiting symptoms of Marburg.

Heero heard Trowa's faint voice over the sound of his respirator, "That's why they waited so long to let you out. We wanted to get a handle on things before you or Relena were pushed into it." 

Heero found himself unable to look away. "How?" he managed to stammer out.

"We think they infected the water supply, but we can't be sure, the cultures we gathered aren't ready to go under the Electron Microscope. It took us way to long to catch on to what was going on." Trowa was still standing in the elevator, as if afraid to leave it. Heero took a few careful steps into the crowded hallway, as if transfixed on the images before him.

On a bed to his right an old man sat with his hands on either side of his head. Rocking back and forth as if it would take the pain away. To his left a young girl, no older than six, was laying on a bed, her knuckles white from the strain she was putting on them to hold the sheets so tight. She was crying so hard Heero couldn't seem to hear anything else, not even the muffling noise of his respirator could penetrate against her cries. Her eyes were wide open, a piercing shade of red, and her skin was blotched in bruises. He forced his gaze from her, and his feet, he pushed back. He reentered the elevator next to Trowa, who pushed the button for the roof once again.

Once on the roof they quickly got out of their suits and got on the helicopter. Heero hadn't realized how bad he had been sweating until he went to wipe his forehead.

"Don't bring Relena here." He said in a deathly strained tone.

Trowa didn't even glance at him. "We told her about it, but were never planning on bringing her here."

"So she's already out?" he asked, his voice still unnerving with the tone so quiet.

"Yeah, they let her out yesterday. She spent the whole day crying when she found out." Trowa's tone betrayed something.

Heero turned a heated glance in his direction. "What?" his tone was loud and demanding, yet broken too.

"Zechs has Marburg." Trowa said, not looking at him.

Heero's breath caught in his throat and his face went ghostly pale. He felt his stomach lurch as he parted his lips in an attempt to speak. But no words came, not even a sound from his aching throat. _Zechs… Milliardo… Relena's older brother… My… _Tears welled into his eyes once again. Trowa's head snapped in his direction when Heero let out a choked sob. _The closest person I ever knew to a father… _Heero would never admit that in public, but he really admired and looked up to Zechs, in fact, over the last few years he had been working as USAMRIID, Zechs had come to visit many times and the two had come to respect each other as friends, in a strange sort of way. They seemed to have a weird understanding of each other.

Trowa's eyes were glued to the tears flowing painfully down Heero's face for a moment before forcing himself to look away. A moment later Heero's voice made him jump.

"Take me back to USAMRIID." His tone was calm and concise. His face was dry and all remnants of tears pushed away, he was once again wearing the mask that had somehow become a permanent fixture in front of his eyes. He was the Perfect Soldier.

Trowa didn't need to be told twice. He gave the orders to the pilot and in just a few minutes they had landed back on the roof of the Institute. As Heero stepped off the helicopter, he turned back to Trowa, stopping him from following.

"Don't follow. And stay away for awhile, I need to concentrate." Trowa nodded numbly, not knowing what else to do. "Were are Decon and Hews?"

"Somewhere in there." He said back, pointing toward the door into the building. Heero nodded and turned on his heal, heading silently back into the institute.

****************

Relena ran onto the back porch of the Peacecraft mansion. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, but she looked hopefully at the helicopter that had just landed. Ready to run to the occupant of it and cry onto his shoulder.

Trowa stepped out and she didn't move, waiting for something. Then the helicopter once again took off. Her eyes looked questioningly at Trowa, who averted his gaze.

"He's at USAMRIID." he said softly once within earshot.

Relena looked startled by his words. Her voice betrayed her, "Why?"

"No, he doesn't have Marburg." Trowa said, sensing her panic, "After I brought him to the hospital, and told him about Zechs, he told me to bring him back. He's working again."

She looked away, trying to stop the tears that threatened her. She turned back to the house and headed back inside. She didn't know what to do. She felt so helpless, through all her struggle and triumphs for the peoples' cause, she was helpless in their time of need. She was jealous of Heero, jealous that he could help and she couldn't. She wanted to walk out onto the street and go door to door helping, but they wouldn't even allow her out of the mansion. She stalked up the large stairs to her room. Cuddled up to her teddy bear and fell asleep with eyes tightly shut, and tears on her cheeks.

***************

"Look at this." Decon said to Heero, holing up a picture to the light and pointing to the hook shaped image there. Heero squinted as he eyes adjusted to the dark picture as opposed to the white screen he had been staring at.

"That's not Marburg." Said Heero after a moment.

"Exactly." Said Decon. At that moment, Hews walked up to them and glanced at the picture. 

"It looks like Marburg to me, how can you tell its not." She said skeptically.

"It makes perfect sense," Heero said, addressing them both. "Montgomery wanted a fast killer. Marburg is fast, but not that fast, and it only has a 75 percent kill ratio. He decided to use something else, something close enough to Marburg that we wouldn't notice, but something that would kill fast and with a greater efficiency." Hews looked pail a moment, suddenly sick to her stomach. "I think this is Ebola, and not just any Ebola, Ebola Zaire, with a 90 percent kill ratio."

Decon nodded sadly in agreement as Hews blanched even more. Heero glanced at Decon. "I have to go tell the other pilots. I want you to run a test to confirm if it's Ebola Zaire and get back to me. Hews," she looked about ready to collapse at any moment. "why don't you lie down for a while. Let this soak in before we start working again."

Both Heero and Decon quickly exited the room. Hews stood frozen in place a moment before her legs gave way and she wound up sitting on the floor.

**************

Relena looked out her window as the sound of a helicopter neared the mansion. As it landed she held her breath, hoping it would be him. The door opened and Heero stepped out, his white lab coat ruffling in the wind of the blades. He seemed to be saying something to the pilot as he pulled a folder off the seat he had just occupied. He then turned toward the mansion, his eyes involuntarily seeking out her window. Their eyes met for a moment, he didn't smile, even though he was happy to see her. His expression remained hard, and he had blinked a few times to keep it that way. He looked back at the door, to find Duo now standing there looking at him. He then jogged over to the house.

"We need to talk, call everyone here, quick. I have bad news." Duo's faced seemed to turn white a moment before he broke into a run, heading back into the house.

Heero moved into the study and placed the folder in his hands on one of the desks. Relena was the first to enter. She walked to the front of the desk he was standing behind and looked at him. He made eye contact and felt a wrenching pain in his gut. Her eyes were red and puffy, as though she had just stopped crying. He didn't remove his gaze from hers until Trowa entered, panting, a few moments later. Wufei and Quatre entered together and last were Miss Noin and Duo.

Heero took a deep breath, scanning the room for a moment. "You guys might want to be sitting for this." He said, observing the everyone in the room was standing. Noin, Relena, Quatre and Duo all sat while Trowa and Wufei remained standing, as did he.

"I don't know if anyone has noticed," he began, "but all the people sick right now developed their symptoms too quickly. It could be said that this was because, perhaps, Montgomery was planning this from the beginning, and had already infected the populous before Kent and I got to his supply of Marburg, and that may be correct. But if it's not, and I'm right in my suspicion, things are a lot worse than they seem."

"What do you mean?" asked Wufei, suddenly looking very pale.

"Look at these." Heero said, taking a pile of pictures from his folder and handing two to everyone in the room. "Are these the same virus?" he asked as everyone examined the pictures.

"They look close enough to me." Said Duo, observing no noticeable difference.

"How close is close enough, Duo?" asked Heero back, Duo shrugged his shoulders and looked once again, straining his eyes, at the pictures. A beeping sound interrupted them. Heero removed his beeper from his pocket and read its message. A collective breath was held by the other occupants of the room as his face blanched. He looked back at them. "My suspicion has just been confirmed. Those minor differences make one of those viruses Marburg and the other something far more deadly."

Relena's eyes widened as her stomach lurched forward. "What is it?" she stammered out.

"Do you all remember, when I was addressing the ESUN delegates, that the filovirus family has three sisters, and Marburg was called the 'Gentle sister'?" a few nods from his audience and he continued. "Well, the worst of the three sisters, Ebola Zaire, is what the general population has."

No motion or sound disrupted the silence of the room. They had reacted with pure shock, as Heero had suspected. He didn't give them time to start panicking, he wanted them to have all the information before he left again, and after he was gone they could let it sink in. "Ebola Zaire has a ninety percent fatality rate, and kills much more quickly than Marburg. It's spread incredibly easily, through any body fluid, that means sweat, saliva, anything. This also means that someone else at USAMRIID has been helping Montgomery."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" asked Trowa, the only one who seemed to have a voice at that moment.

"Well, you see, I gave Montgomery the sample of Marburg he needed. My error, my sin. But that's all I gave him. He would have had to get the Ebola Zaire strain from someone else inside the Institute." The detective work involved must have helped, at least the Gundam Pilots, to keep their heads clear and focused.

"But we already know that Dr. J was working for him and USAMRIID, he could have easily gotten him Ebola." Quatre relied, looking deep in thought.

"No, if Dr. J had level four clearance Montgomery wouldn't have needed me in the first place. Dr. J worked as a vet, he wasn't aloud in level four containment zones, he had to have someone else." Heero replied, having already figured this out before he had gotten here.

"But who?" Heero was startled by the sound of Relena's voice, and a brief moment of astonishment crossed over his face before it disappeared.

"That's what I'm counting on all of you to figure out. In this folder is a list of everyone who has access to level four zones. I want you all to look this stuff over and figure out possibilities. I'll come back here tonight and you can show me what you have. Is everyone all right with that?" Everyone nodded as Heero handed the folder to Relena, who sat closest to him. He then left the room, quickly, to return to the Institute.


End file.
